


Mask of My Disguise

by marsakat



Series: demaverse [2]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Angst, Dema fic, Demaverse, First Time, M/M, Secret Relationship, Smut, dema
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 09:29:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15409953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsakat/pseuds/marsakat
Summary: With the Watchers asleep, two lovers can take the chance to spend the night together. Risking everything, and losing it all.





	Mask of My Disguise

**Author's Note:**

> hi ho another dema fic we go!

This only existed when all others were asleep; when eyes were closed and watchers saw nothing but the blissful dreams. By day, their interactions were nothing more than any other accepted and approved socialization. No one would suspect anything; neither showed signs of fatigue from their nocturnal rendezvous, and their tasks were completed with the efficiency that was expected. 

Nights were filled with waiting and counting—checking that there was utter stillness before creeping silently to the other’s bed. To steal a private moment to touch was the first act of rebellion and the rest was soon to follow.

The initial times they dared to share a bed, Josh and Tyler only stared for hours in disbelief that they were so close and so alone. Fingers brushed cheeks and lips to confirm what little they could see in the darkened room. 

The magnetic draw could only be fought for so long as their lips needed to meet. 

They found themselves there through coded statements and concealed letters, never displaying their true intentions to the daylight. They were braver in the night when they dared to leave the notes to each other. There was no question or deniability in the attraction. 

The first kiss brought more joy to their hearts than any comfort they had in the beauty of their home. This was an awakening in a place that banned such human connection. Tyler’s fingers in the curls of Josh’s dark hair and Josh’s hands on his cheek and side became the entire world, and it felt safe. All that their lives had been for nine years was taking joy in a day’s hard work, but it was nothing compared to their kisses. 

With blood rushing in their ears, they had to break apart and listen carefully to hear if anyone was alerted to their illegal movements. It was too risky to stay locked together—they were too tempted to speed up or push bodies together in a race to become one. Tyler would hide his face in Josh’s neck, breathe in the scent that was uniquely him and couldn’t be taken away by any amount of their uniform soap. As much as they were encouraged to just be absorbed by the collective and community, Josh stood out to Tyler like the brightest star, a shining torch in the pitch-black sky. 

Either could have been content with kissing from the minute the bed was occupied till the dawn was so nearly approaching that they had slip away and wake in different beds. But as they grew comfortable in their rule-breaking, their daring growing to help them touch underneath and remove clothes. Wanting to know every part of the other— Josh being the first to let his hand drift down and cup Tyler through his Dema-issued clothing. 

Their breaths hesitated, were drawn in with careful need. Both overwhelmed by what was happening; Josh feeling the pleasure acutely as if there was a telepathic connection between Tyler and him that made his own back arch too. 

Josh’s faint query was not “can I?”, but “should I?” and Tyler nodded vigorously, helping Josh to untie and unbutton enough to have hands meet skin untouched.

Dry, every centimeter of Josh’s skin dragged over Tyler and yet it was nothing like he’d ever experienced before. The thrill of breaking the rules, of feeling  _ something _ beyond the  mundane path that was set for him to follow every day—Josh pulled from him something indescribable. 

Tyler was engulfed by Josh; held, muffled, stroked, and kissed. His noises disappeared, and with time and practice he exploded through the breach and climaxed with complete silence. That first time, Josh followed soon after, pressing his hips against Tyler until he came in his own matching uniform. 

It didn’t take long before Tyler was gifting Josh with his mouth, lips curling around him as he writhed and tried to maintain composure and silence. Tyler reciprocally found out why that was; drawing blood from his palm as his throat made whimpers that couldn’t be suppressed. 

In the daytime, as their relationship grew, the smiles were hard to hold back. Josh looked so beautiful in the daylight—their beds were too dark to appreciate how perfect his teeth were, or that his eyes were the most fascinating shade of brown. Sometimes they sat next to each other for meals, and suspicion was likely aroused, but neither could help being silly in love. 

Love, an abstract concept only allowed to be directed at Dema itself. For two inhabitants to set themselves aside as a unit, a couple, would destroy the fundamental structure of their society. It wasn’t allowed, and Tyler had begun to wonder, why it seemed like no one missed it. Many had come from elsewhere, Tyler himself had a life before Dema, though his memories of that time were mostly gone. No one talked of such things; there was only Dema. 

Nine years was a long time, and they had either forgotten how to do these things as their brain were filled with the rules of Dema, or else they just never knew. Just the urge to do more, the need to take the final step, haunted; their bodies grinding and fitting together in ways that felt like they were on a precipice. Tyler’s legs hitched around Josh’s waist, Josh straddling Tyler and rolling his hips, or holding Tyler from behind. 

The idea of what they really wanted to do came foggily to Tyler one day, his hands on the back of Josh’s thighs, that maybe they wanted to be inside each other, fitting as one. The concept made them shiver but the mechanics proved harder to figure or remember. 

Tyler offered and they probed, trying until he winced and whispered for Josh to stop. Josh hushed him with kisses and they stopped their progress for the night. It was Josh who had the brilliant idea to use the oil they were supplied to prevent chapped hands when working outside in winter, and all the  _ dryness  _ they had been dealing with resolved. He also valiantly insisted, in case their experiments took a turn for the worse, but it turned out very well for him. 

The tension they both felt, simultaneously holding their breaths, was at a peak as Tyler eased his finger into Josh. Lying next to each other, Tyler on his side—they both watched his hand work, and Josh let out a shaky sigh. 

“Maybe just… close your eyes and relax?” Tyler suggested and Josh complied. 

Slowly he began to feel the twinges of pleasure, letting Tyler know how good it was for him by smiling and touching his face. 

“Another.” Josh whispered, starting to writhe and rock against Tyler’s two fingers working in and out of him. He pulled Tyler into a kiss, needing him to be  _ close _ , to suppress how much he verbally wanted to tell him everything he felt. 

Tyler rutted against Josh’s hip, thrusting in time with his fingers and both choked their moans. 

“Close—close.” Josh whispered, and then grabbed Tyler’s wrist. “Wait. Try to—let’s see if it’d work.”

Tyler’s fear rose up again; it had been going to so well and that doing  _ this _ could just bring it all crashing down. 

“Are you sure? I don’t want to hurt you.” Tyler’s eyes were wide, so close to Josh’s, they seemed to take up his entire.

“Please… I want you.” Josh breathed. “I trust you.”

He reached for the oil, pressing the tube into Tyler’s hand. His legs were already bent, spread apart, but he shifted purposefully to encourage Tyler to settle into the space between them. He complied, not the first time they had been positioned like this, but it went without saying that a huge step was being taken. 

Both attentions were fixed downwards, Tyler missing Josh’s wince as he pressed inwards, the slickness from the oil helping but not completely relieving the first time stretch. Living in a place the praised silence and ignoring revelation, they easily held back their noises as Tyler made that first slow thrust. Despite whispering before, at that point they were too scared to dare breathe a syllable. Having spent much time not saying what he really would want to say, Tyler could check Josh’s comfort with just a gentle finger brushing his lips. Non-verbal—Josh’s eyes replied his readiness to proceed. 

They were careful to minimize the rasp of the mattress as Tyler’s tempo increased, but little could be done to fully mask what they were doing. It was nothing like Tyler had ever felt before; better even than Josh’s mouth. Sinking into his body, aligned face-to-face; it was all so intense. He had never felt so close with anyone  person before, especially living in a world where personal connections were limited and suppressed.

Josh arched below him, and clutched the pillow under his head, exposing the soft skin under his arms. He was magnificent, and Tyler could have stared for centuries. His body didn’t need his mind’s instructions; it knew exactly what to do, and he was just pouring his heart out into every motion.

“There.” Josh said, and Tyler made it his mission to keep going at that exact angle, to make Josh feel like there were supernovas exploding across his spine.

Josh was getting used to the stretch and began actively pushing back against Tyler’s constant forward motion. Sweat started to form from the exertion as well as the holding back. Skin slaps echoed terrifyingly as they picked up speed and lost themselves. The world had whittled down to the just the two of them, as it always seemed to be as they approached their own orgasms.

Tyler’s face was tight with concentration, his breaths too high in pitch to be ever construed as normal if one were to spy through the keyhole. Josh’s mouth hung open, eyes closed as he was rocked back and forth, Tyler’s name like a prayer upon his lips. He had been stroking himself, balancing precariously between wanting this to last forever or surrendering to pure bliss. 

The choice left either of their hands, a minuscule change in Tyler’s position pushed Josh into biting down hard on his lip as he came with the slightest of whines. His entire body tightened, knees locking tight around Tyler’s hips. With the cue of Josh’s body tensing, Tyler followed close behind him, body shaking as he came inside of Josh.

They were a tangle of limbs, Tyler still inside Josh despite the slight discomfort for either. Some pain or oversensitivity was bearable when confronted with the idea that they must separate eventually. Tyler shook with tears that made their quiet trek down the valleys of his face. Their heartbeats synced and lowered. ‘I love you’ could not be said, but it was there.

As if making love wasn’t already the riskiest thing they had done that night, they also chanced falling asleep in each other’s arms. It would have been torture to slip away so soon after an act so intense, with only the aches in their muscles as company. If they were caught, though—the evidence was undeniable—they would undoubtedly be separated forever. Tyler stayed till the sky outside turned milky with the approaching dawn, and then regretfully departed.

They kept up the ruse they had so cleverly crafted, though the slight twinges of pain that Josh felt throughout the day were new to conceal. All Tyler wanted was to check in with him, but he couldn’t and he didn’t.

Daytime may have felt like it lasted forever, but it was only a few hours before they could fall back into bed together.

Again, again, again; trying new positions, different speeds and angles. Neither could get enough of the other. Their beds were a sanctuary they felt comfortable, too comfortable in. 

It was bound to crumble eventually; there were too many eyes in a host of hidden places. Inquiring minds wanted to know why the two seemed distracted and had increasing circles under their eyes. Fatigue lingered, and yet their happiness was unusually high. Anything unusual was taken note of and the bishop began his prying. Privacy was not valued, and no one was entitled to secrets.

All it took was for the watchers to wait; in no time at all they followed Josh as he left his room after curfew and crept to Tyler’s quarters. Their eyes were invisible, but they were everywhere, and swept in to catch the two in the most compromising of positions. Watchers turned enforcers, Josh and Tyler were ripped apart. Their whispers turned to cries of pain and screams as they were dragged in separate directions down the corridors. 

They knew as well as everyone else there, they were never going to see each other again. That’s what happened when the rules were broken and only a few people ever returned when they were sent for reconditioning— those people were of course never the same.

Tyler’s memories of that time were vague; simply existing in a dark cell, catatonic and starved.  _ They _ spoke to him, and he didn’t fight—Josh’s life was held in the balance. He could’ve been there for days or years, Tyler didn’t care enough to know or ask. 

If anything, it may have all been a dream. Tyler was told he had a very bad case of the flu, in fact, he was told he was lucky to have survived. Tyler had no energy to argue or even ask, and anyway, he knew he’d receive no answers. Josh couldn’t have been real, he concluded. Just a fever dream of what his guilty heart wanted; nothing more that should ever be thought about or explored. 

It was easier that way. Easier to join the crowd and march along to where he was supposed to go. Less painful to shut his brain off and fall in step.

Besides, there was no reason to want anything more than the peace and safety that Dema provided.

Tyler was content.

* * *

The hidden became the discovered and then the prisoner. But then he escaped and became the rebel. His mind was full of wonder about the fate of the love of his life, but the agony of the separation hardened him. But, any figure that crept into Trench caused a flicker of hope where his heart used to be.

It was always extinguished, and he purposefully forgot his lover’s name.

But the dam exploded and his wall crumbled beneath the rushing tidal wave of everything he had ever felt for  _ him _ , as he stared down at the person marching down the middle of Trench. Josh knew exactly who it was, but was powerless to help—Tyler had to climb out on his own.

He could have screamed at sight of the approaching red-cloaked bishop, and Josh fought for composure, not wanting to show his weakness to the other Banditos. Even as his broken heart, which was barely repaired in the first place, was shattered all over again.

His last hope—he threw the petals.

Tyler took the chance.

Failure. Again.

Josh took the pain, everything that had built inside him for the past few years, and, as he watched Tyler’s unconscious figure down below, he ignited it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I am teeentyonepilots on tumblr, so please please come chat with me about all your Dema theories and maybe we can even discuss what you're working on too!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this fic, and I am grateful to anyone who read all the way through and stuck with me to the end of the story. Thanks!


End file.
